Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Oil in your barrel

Bore dry.
No oil.

Your right! If I was a deer that butcher tape would scare the hell out of me!

Lefty C

My grandfather used to keep oil down the barrels of his rifles all the time. He also kept them loaded and whould reoil them once a week. Needless to say he hadn't shot one of his guns in a while once and when he did the bullet only went about 4 feet from the muzzle.

Oil will change the POI for the first shot out the bore, dry-patched or not.

At least, for me and my rifles, it does.

No oil in my barrels during hunting season. For that matter, no barrel cleaning during hunting season.

I just wrap the sucker up in blue tape and rock it!

I've used the little balloons my son makes water bombs with. They fit perfectly over the barrel, keep crud and water out, leave no adhesive behind and you can shoot right through them.

You can buy them at just about any dollar store.

I hunt with dry, fouled bores. I always put electrican's tape over the muzzle. Cheap insurance.
If I wanted to leave a thin coating of oil, I'd oil the bore normally, then run a dry patch through it. That takes out the excess. I'd check zero just to make sure it was where it needed to be.
Tape over the muzzle is not to keep moisture out. It's to keep snow, dust and dirt out in case of a fall or accidently jamming the muzzle into the ground. E

I always use electricians's tape, dry bore. That said, I just ran a test with five rifles the bores of which were clean, lightly oiled (finished the cleaning w/ an oiled patch). I was surprised that none of them threw a flyer on the first shot, no signs of pressure different than follow on shots. Despite the fact that I've proven it doesn't matter (to me, at least), I'm still going with dry, fouled bore, tape over muzzle.

Hunt with a dirty bore and tape it.

I read somewhere that oil in a barrel will give a hydraulic effect when the bullet goes down the bore. There is nowhere for the oil to go and as it builds up in front of the bullet, it can put a wrinkle in the bore. The author had a cut open barrel to prove his statement. And it was a bit wrinkled.

It tends to make sense as any fluid under enough pressure will deform and even cut steel. And oil being squeezed past a bullet in a bore has boo coo pressure.

Lotsa difference between oil in the barrel and what's left behind when you run an oily patch followed by two dry patches down a bore. hundreds of thousands of GI's have been doing that for lotsa years. I've been doing it for about 60 w/o a problem.

No oil in my barrels after final range check unitl after the hnt is over.

I got a feeling the snow's a might deeper in your neck of the woods.. It's rare when it's over a foot here during season..

My rifles will not put the first shot from a clean, oiled barrel into the group no matter how many dry patches I run through it. However, If I run Shooter's Choice and then dry patches through the clean bore, they will.

When cleaned of all copper fouling, my factory barrels need three to five shots down the tube before they settle in and shoot their best groups. My Pac-Nor barrels will group when clean. They also don't copper foul as much as my factory tubes.

I don't know why the difference between oil and Shooters Choice, just know that is what I have observed.

What will cause you problems is an oily chamber,
because the brass cannot grip the sides of the chamber and increases bolt thrust.
I talked to a farmer last weekend who says he has never cleaned his rifle.
He also says all his kills have been less than 100 ft.
My experience tells me that You should keep your rifle clean and fire a few fouling shots before hunting season. Then leave it alone unless you are in the rain or get snow in the barrel by tripping and falling or whatever. Then I thoroughly clean it after season is over for storage.
If I don't fire fouling shots the POI is not the same.
At close range it is no big deal though.
whelennut

Test the individual rifle. Some of my rifles change the point of impact with an oily bore, some don't. Eezox is a superior rust preventative and it forms a dry surface; most of my rifles shoot to the same spot with or without Eezox in the bore.

Hate to go against the trend, but I do run a patch with scant oil on it, couple drops max. Range experience shows no significant difference in point of impact, at least out of my rifles.

I don't put tape over muzzle unless I'm out west where i'm mostly walking. It's a waste of time in the southeast when stand hunting.

I have a number of hunting rifles, some need a fouling shot to group well, some don't. I will tape a barrel in bad weather and have shot several head of game at over 300 yards with no problem. That said, anyone who doesn;t see the need to tape a muzzle has never hunted in Alaska!

Each to their own. I use it and a quick glance tells me if the bore is clear or not after a fall or busting through thick brush.

Makes sense Dave. I made my comment about stand hunting where I'm not walking a great distance to my stand. If walking a lot during hunting then it makes more sense to me.

It sure doesn't hurt to be extra cautious.